Dog gone it!

08 Jun 2015 | Contributor(s): Brenda Capobianco, Todd Richard Kelley, Chell Nyquist, James Daniel Lehman

This design challenge, for students in grade 3, focuses on simple and compound machines. The objective of the challenge is to design a compound machine to help a large breed of dog to get into and out of the back of a car.

Bio-Inspired Paper Flowers

03 Jun 2014 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Bryan Hubbard, Kari Clase, Alyssa Panitch, Evan Rebar, Tahira Reid, Nancy Tyrie, James Daniel Lehman

This grade 3 lesson introduces students to the basic structures of plants and their functions. Students are challenged to create paper flowers that turn colors through processes that mimics how real plants function.

Save the Wolf (Simple Machines)

03 Jun 2014 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Kendra A Erk, James Daniel Lehman

This grade 3 design lesson introduces simple machines and challenges students to use simple machines to create a device to capture a wolf.

Earthen Dam Design Task

03 Jun 2014 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Venkatesh Merwade, James Daniel Lehman

This grade 3 design task focuses on earth materials and the construction of an earthen dam.

Drink Pouch

11 Jun 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Bryan Hubbard, Alyssa Panitch, Kari Clase, Tahira Reid, Nancy Irene Tyrie, James Daniel Lehman

This 3rd grade design activity is focused on creating a drink pouch that can keep a drink cool in the hot sun.

Design of Musical Instruments for a Rock Band

10 Jun 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): David C Eichinger, Erin K Doherty, James Daniel Lehman, Venkatesh Merwade

This grade 3 design task helps students to learn about sound by designing a stringed musical instrument.

Sound Absorption

09 Jun 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): James Daniel Lehman

This grade 3 lesson plan focuses on a design task to create a wall to absorb sound.

Exploring Whirligigs

09 Jun 2013 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Brenda Capobianco, James Daniel Lehman

This inquiry lesson, for grades 3-4, involves students conducting a fair test investigation to determine the way an object (a whirligig) falls through the air and how this fall depends on its mass, surface area, and other factors. This lesson is an adaptation of a lesson developed by...

Design Team Developed: Plastic Water Bottle Design

30 Nov 2012 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): James Daniel Lehman

This lesson plan, intended for grade 6, focuses on using mathematics to design the shape of a plastic water bottle to optimize the surface area to volume ratio and so reduce the amount of plastic used to make the bottles.

Pill Bugs' Habitat Inquiry Activity

11 Nov 2012 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): James Daniel Lehman

This is an inquiry activity, aligned to grade 4-6 standards, in which students design fair test investigations to determine the habitat of pill bugs (roly polies).

Model Ecosystem Video

04 Oct 2012 | Demonstration Video | Contributor(s): David C Eichinger, James Daniel Lehman

In this video, Professor David Eichinger discusses a model ecosystem activity that is used in Biology for Elementary Teachers and is applicable to the elementary classroom.

Design Team Developed: Sun Tracking System for a Solar Panel

13 Sep 2012 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Bryan Hubbard, Kari Clase, John Grutzner, Alyssa Panitch, Nancy Irene Tyrie

This lesson plan is designed for 6th grade and addresses topics related to the sun-earth-moon system. Specifically, this lesson addresses that seasons result from the tilt of the earth, which causes changes in sunlight intensity and length of day. Related mathematical standards address...

Design Team Developed: Reindeer Habitat

06 Sep 2012 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Senay Purzer, David C Eichinger, Erin K Doherty

This lesson plan is designed fro 6th grade and covers life science topics in science and are calculations in math. In engineering, the importance of using scientific and engineering vocabulary in explanations & justifications is emphasized.

EDCI Strong Book Nook Fall 2011

28 Mar 2012 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Brenda Capobianco

Grade 6 lesson plan, engineering design process.

Think-aloud Protocol Analysis as a Measure of Students' Science Learning through Design Assessment

28 Mar 2012 | Publications | Contributor(s): Todd Richard Kelley, Brenda Capobianco

Research has indicated that authentic engineering design tasks hold the attention andinterest of students and can lead to deeper levels of science engagement (Fortus, Dershimer, Krajcik, Marx, & Mamlok-Naaman, 2004; Roth, 1996; 1997; 1998). However, there is a need for student assessments...

EDCI Catapults Sp 2012

28 Mar 2012 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Mary Hildebrand, Andrea Levrio

EDCI Rollercoaster Energy Spring 2012

28 Mar 2012 | Lesson Plans | Contributor(s): Brooke Ann Winebrenner, Cassie Timmons

EDCI lesson plan about potential and kinetic energy.

Problem Based Approach to Instruction

17 Feb 2012 | Downloads | Contributor(s): Kari Clase, Peg A Ertmer

RGS Summer 2011 Supplemental Material:This chapter examines the problem-based learning approach to instructionfrom the perspective of instructional design theory and synthesizes the current knowledge and theory into some universal methods, situational methods, and principles for a theory of...

PBL Learning Meets Case-Based Reasoning in the Middle School Science Classroom: Putting Learning by Design Into Practice

17 Feb 2012 | Downloads | Contributor(s): Kari Clase, Peg A Ertmer

RGS Summer 2011 Supplemental Material:This article tells the story of the design of Learning by Design™ (LBD), a project- based inquiry approach to science learning with roots in case-based reasoning and problem-based learning, pointing out the theoretical contributions of both, classroom issues...

PBL Developing a Driving Question

17 Feb 2012 | Teaching Materials | Contributor(s): Peg A Ertmer

RGS Summer 2011 PBL: Developing a Driving Question